Resist the list

The purpose of this study is to provide insights into issues encountered in maintaining library technologies and electronic collections in changing times and on a limited budget with limited personnel.

The study uses real world observations and experiences, data collected from an informal survey, insights gleaned from the professional literature and anecdotal evidence to provide commentary on the questionable methods many libraries employ in providing access to electronic resources.

Libraries spend large sums of money and significant percentages of overall budgets on electronic resources, yet many fail to take the extra step to provide access to the content in these disparate resources via a web scale discovery search service. What is worse is that a large number of libraries still employ the flawed “Databases A-Z” list as a primary means of providing access.

This paper is a light-hearted piece on one librarian’s observations regarding the inherent flaws in the traditional “Databases A-Z” list. It includes data from an informal survey.